Blackbook - 'Painter of Light', Chardonnay, Clayhill Vineyard, Essex, UK (2021)

TASTING NOTES

Citrus with a strong backbone of English acidity. The oak is restrained allowing the stone fruit character to shine with underlying popcorn, smoke and flint characters. The palate has minerality and length with citrus, honeydew melon and stone fruits over hints of ginger and almond. Intense and refreshing.

Established in 2017, Sergio from Blackbook set out to specialise in cool-climate still wines from Chardonnay & Pinot Noir, working with vineyards in Southern England to bring back to their winery in Battersea, South London.

Planted to Burgundy clones (115 & 777), the Clayhill Vineyard is part of the exciting area of the Crouch River Valley in Essex. This is the warmest and driest meso-climate in the whole of the UK. It reliably ripens chardonnay and pinot noir for still wine production owing to climate change factors now giving it the climate of Bourgogne circa 1990s.

2021 was a cold, wet harvest. The grapes came from a third-generation farmer, Dale Simmons. South-facing vineyard planted in 2006 with a commission for Chapel Down who get 50% of the fruit. 10- to 12-acre (4- to 5-ha) site. Blackbook takes 6 tons of fruit from him, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay is a single burgundian clone, 277. Whole-bunch pressed and fermented in Burgundy barrels with the grapes’ indigenous yeast is a low intervention and characterful method of winemaking. 20% is new oak, the rest old.  

The wine is finally aged for 11 months prior to bottling.